Picturesque gardens along the zoo’s winding pathways have been a key feature of the zoo’s appeal for decades. In 2009, though, the zoo began applying the same sort of cohesive, long-term planning to the landscape that it does for managing animal populations. A garden master plan was developed. Unifying standards for fencing, brick walls, benches and curbs were initiated. Plant species were painstakingly catalogued and categorized in databases. ID signs sprang up next to native and exotic specimens throughout zoo grounds. A staff of professional horticulturists took shape under the watch of our first director of horticulture, Brian Houck, providing expert leadership to the zoo’s steadfast corps of volunteer gardeners.

Now there’s a new tiller in town. After Houck transplanted himself to new soil last year, the zoo handed over the trowel to Director of Horticulture Joe Rothleutner in May. Rothleutner is an ideal leader with a strong, hands-on science background. He studied plant sciences and urban forestry at the University of Maryland as an undergraduate and earned his masters’s degree in horticulture at Oregon State University, where his focus was plant breeding, genetics and biotechnology. Most recently, he bred and selected trees and shrubs at Morton Arboretum in west suburban Lisle.

The new Alexander Swan Overlook at the Hope B. McCormick Swan Pond provides an immersive view—and great photo ops—for visitors. Top photo: Joe Rothleutner, the zoo’s new director of horticulture, on the bridge overlooking the pond.

Arboretums—which concentrate more on specialization and woody plants and trees—are a common rootstalk in Rothleutner’s experience. “I got my first exposure to arboretums at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., as an intern in their tree breeding and development lab. And both of the universities I went to also have arboretums,” he says. “I dream of possibly taking us from being a botanic garden at a zoo to earning accreditation as an arboretum.”

That accreditation process includes four tiers. The requirement for the first—labeling at least 25 different plant species—is fairly basic. The second tier, which is Rothleutner’s immediate goal, requires demonstrating a more complex collections policy and future management plans. Defining special collections helps, and Rothleutner already has one candidate in mind. “I would love to become the leader in North American hydrangeas through the American Public Gardens Association’s Plant Collections Network.”

The following steps fit perfectly with the zoo’s core missions. “Having education and conservation programs take you to the third and fourth levels,” Rothleutner says. “So we’re going to start building more science and conservation into our gardens while still ensuring they remain really beautiful. We can tell such unique, captivating stories about plants—their relationships with people and animals and how they support the ecosystems those animals rely on.”

A tulip poplar just south of the Waterfowl Lagoon was among the first trees Rothleutner helped plant. “We hope to show off its beautiful flowers in mid-spring,” he says.

Big plans such as these will be implemented over time. Some musings—like a mobile “bloom cart” educating guests about different plants blooming throughout the season—may happen sooner. Other thoughts, such as a collaborative study with the zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute examining the relationship between pollinating insects and particular plant cultivars, can take shape later.

Rothleutner is also looking forward to partnering with the zoo’s Animal Care staff in a little-known, behind-the-scenes area of the zoo’s gardens.

“We have browse gardens behind two animal houses. Keepers use them to supplement diets for herbivores at the zoo,” he says. “I want to work on making that even more efficient to continue to support the animals’ well-being. Potentially, we can also become a leader in showing other zoos how to grow browse.”

Rothleutner hit the ground running with regard to two recently completed garden projects: the Alexander Swan Overlook at the Hope B. McCormick Swan Pond and the Chirinko-Cohen Garden on the north side of the Harris Family Foundation Black Rhinoceros Exhibit at Regenstein African Journey.

The Alexander Swan Overlook, located on the north end of the pond, enhances the immersive viewing experience. Barrier fencing used to jut out 8 to 10 feet from the exhibit, distancing guests from views of the trumpeter swans, other waterfowl and a waterfall. That’s been replaced with a new brick patio edged with limestone-capped walls for seating and added garden landscaping.

Visitors stroll past the new Chirinko-Cohen Garden next to the black rhino exhibit. Its varying textures and colors will develop over the next few years.

The brick closely resembles that of the landmark Kovler Lion House situated just to the east. The patio’s design also complements the brickwork of the Bolger Circle Garden at Café Brauer’s entrance and the pathway to the “Dream Lady” sculpture north of the Helen Brach Primate House—a unifying motif directed by the zoo’s garden master plan. New plantings include a “Nadler Kindred Spirit” upright oak—a hybrid of an English oak and a swamp white oak—and a weeping European beech with purple leaves.

“The oak will be about 35 feet tall at maturity but stay less than 6 feet wide—a very tall obelisk in the garden,” says Rothleutner. “Even though both trees are deciduous, they’ll add interest to the landscape through winter because of their sculptural forms.”

The Chirinko-Cohen Garden provides a new, beautiful vantage point for viewing the zoo’s endangered black rhinos. The semicircular garden had been “overrun with ditch lilies that bloom for a few weeks and then are done for the rest of the year,” says Rothleutner. “There were a couple of declining trees in there as well.”

The zoo’s horticulturists brought the garden out further, had new, low-profile cable and black-barrier fencing installed and filled the space with a textural, colorful pastiche of hydrangeas, amsonia, Siberian bugloss, hostas, hyssop and grasses. “It’s a new garden, but it will look gorgeous in a year or two,” says Rothleutner. “That’s the thing about gardens—they take time and they evolve.”

Patience is a virtue when it comes to gardens. But Lincoln Park Zoo’s visitors can be confident the zoo’s new horticulture leader will continue moving the gardens forward by leaps and bounds.